traffic

08 December 2005

"I was thinking of very old times, when the Romans
first came here, nineteen hundred years ago -- the other day. . . .
Light came out of this river since -- you say Knights? Yes; but it is
like a running blaze on a plain, like a flash of lightning in the
clouds. We live in the flicker -- may it last as long as the old earth
keeps rolling! But darkness was here yesterday. Imagine the feelings of
a commander of a fine -- what d'ye call 'em? -- trireme in the
Mediterranean, ordered suddenly to the north; run overland across the
Gauls in a hurry; put in charge of one of these craft the legionaries
-- a wonderful lot of handy men they must have been, too -- used to
build, apparently by the hundred, in a month or two, if we may believe
what we read. Imagine him here -- the very end of the world, a sea the
colour of lead, a sky the colour of smoke, a kind of ship about as
rigid as a concertina -- and going up this river with stores, or
orders, or what you like. Sand-banks, marshes, forests, savages, --
precious little to eat fit for a civilized man, nothing but Thames
water to drink. No Falernian wine here, no going ashore. Here and there
a military camp lost in a wilderness, like a needle in a bundle of hay
-- cold, fog, tempests, disease, exile, and death -- death skulking in
the air, in the water, in the bush. They must have been dying like
flies here."

This wine is not for everyone. It's bitter and tannic. Yet, underneath this roughened shell, it offers very unique flavors that most modern wine drinkers never get the opportunity to experience. Try it with roasted game or grilled steak. Don't drink it in the absence of food; it's unforgiving.

Not a bad wine, but I feel this pales in consideration of the '01. That vintage was like watching Nina Simone sing at a smoky bar. As dark and bitter as it was, there was a real elegance behind the wine. This vintage, to me at least, was closer to the mainstream wine that's all to easy to find. Perhaps the formula has something to do with it. 2001 - 67% Tannat, 33% Cab Franc. '02 they put in 10% Cab Sav. It tastes oakier, too. If you find an '01, check it out.